Reason to Hope
by TheBlazingOptimist
Summary: WWE photographer Hope Slater and her brother Heath had never been the greatest of friends, but after he introduces her to the mysterious Drew McIntyre, a man tormented by a divorce and the recent death of his mother, the over-protective 3MB member will turn this into the most complicated love triangle... Multi-chapter songfic based on Ron Pope's song, Drew/OC, please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

_Dedicated to the real-life Hope Slater- photographer, student, but __**NOT IN ANY WAY **__related to Heath Slater. :P_

* * *

The leaves sat on the trees, swaying slowly in their golden-brown glory.

The wind was singing its haunting song in short verses.

All was quiet and still.

In Hope Slater's mind, it was the perfect day for a photoshoot.

Her friend shivered as she strummed a few random strings on her guitar. "No offense Hope, but are we getting near the end now? It's sort of, um, cold."

The aspiring photographer laughed, tucking her hazel hair behind her ears. "Yeah, don't worry. I just need one more shot..."

"You said that 15 minutes ago!" her friend reminded her as she posed one last time.

Her finger was on the button, and she was seconds away from pressing it, before a familiar country tune began playing.

_I'm just one man, whoa, I'm a one man band..._

"Oh god, not now..."

"Is that who I think it is?" her friend asked teasingly.

"Unfortunately." Hope replied, rolling her eyes before declining the call.

There was a call back only seconds later. She reluctantly accepted this time, knowing that Heath Slater, the One Man Rock Band, and her estranged older brother wouldn't call twice if he didn't need to talk about something very important.

"Heeeeey, sis!" the Southern voice on the other end of the phone greeted. "How's life in jolly old England?"

Hope groaned. She had moved across the pond in 2010, right when Heath had joined Nexus. Though it was only a storyline, she felt Heath, who she had been living with for most of her adult life, was becoming arrogant. So, she did what any girl would do, and moved out. Though the relocation was hard at first, she felt as if her life had become at least a little better without his overbearing presence.

"Just get to the point, idiot." she growled.

"Okay, okay. So, you know how WWE does those live tours every once in a while?"

"Yeah." Hope replied uninterestedly.

"Weeeell, how's this for an offer- you and a couple of your friends, plus free tickets to the next live show I'm at…so, whaddya say?"

Hope's first reaction was to outright refuse the offer and hang up the phone, but something was stopping the words from leaving her mouth.

A voice. That little voice inside her head, which could be, at times, even more annoying than her brother, telling her that it'd be a worthwhile experience. Not for the photo opportunities, but for something else.

She knew there was only one way to find out what it was.

"Yes. We'll go."

"Really?" Heath responded, the jubilation in his voice extremely clear. "Oh, thanks a bunch sis! I'm gonna put on the match of my life for you, I swear!"

The phone's tone changed to a long, monotonous note, and Hope couldn't help but crack a smile at her brother's dedication. Even if he was hard to handle sometimes, no one could knock that side to him.

"What did he say?" the friend asked.

"Harriet," Hope asked, not answering the question, but instead posing one of her own, "you've not got anything to do this Saturday, have you?"

"No…" she replied, feeling a little confused.

"And neither have Jake and Dani?"

"I don't think so…"

"Great!" she replied enthusiastically. "Be at my place by seven, alright?"

Harriet just nodded, as Hope turned to walk away.

"So, no final shot?" she enquired.

"I've got all the shots I need." Hope assured. "And besides, now we've got more important things to do- like planning for a night out!"

And with that, she rushed away, making a beeline for the nearest arts and crafts shop.

* * *

***half an hour later***

* * *

As she left the shop, saddled with goods, she mentally ticked off her checklist. _Glue, paints, paper, glitter…yep, that's everything I'll need for a sign._

As soon as she entered the door to her home, she laid all her objects out on the table, and began making.

It was a long, laborious process, but she knew seeing the look on his face would be worth it.

The days whizzed by as she hurried to get her masterpiece ready before Saturday. Photography projects, school and other nuisances got in her way every now and again, but seeing the four tickets posted through her door on the Friday prior only made her more determined.

And so, the time ticked down, to the point where there was just an hour left. Hope figured she could do no more, and went upstairs to change.

Just as she had pulled on her shoes, there was a ring at the door.

Jake, Dani and Harriet, three of Hope's closest friends, were all waiting.

Jake, ever curious and cheeky, inquired about the roll of paper she was holding in her hand.

Though unwilling at first, she eventually gave into his wishes, unravelling the roll to reveal her creation- a light pink sign, bearing the words _HEATH SLATER ROCKS!, _in glittery purple form. A painted red guitar was below.

"Hope," Dani asked, after an unusually long period of shocked silence, "you know the attention is meant to be on the…." She swallowed before continuing. "…wrestlers, right?"

Hope nodded. "It isn't _that _big. Plus, it's not like I'll be holding it the entire time."

She handed the sign to Harriet, before holding up one of her best cameras.

Jake nodded slowly. "Er, OK. Now that's sorted, shall we get going? I'll drive."

It took them roughly 20 minutes to arrive at the arena. It was a place the four had gone before now, for concerts and other things, but the sights this time were very different.

Swarms of young children, most in green shirts and hats, flanked by parents. Some were also wearing the same green garb, but most looked as if they wanted to be somewhere else.

Most of the adults that _weren't _there for the benefit of any children were young women, Hope's age and older, or men, ranging from teenage to their early 30's. The outfits of the women varied, but most of the men were wearing yellow GTS shirts. The name of the wrestler they were based off slipped Hope's mind.

As they were led to their seats, Hope's friends' eyes lit up. "Wow, front row? Hope, your brother is amazing!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, he has his moments." she replied with a smile, as the on-screen idents finished, making way for a flash of red pyro, and the entrance of a suited man with short black hair. Hope was unsure who he was, but clapped out of courtesy as he entered the ring.

"Good evening London! Are you ready for some wrestling action?"

The crowd roared a yes.

"Okay! Onto our first bout, this is a tag team match set for one fall!"

Hope heavily expected this would be her brother's match, and took her sign from Harriet accordingly, but was surprised when, instead of the country song she was accustomed to hearing, a rock song rang throughout the arena.

_We're a three man band…_

Hope could do little more than lower the sign, as, emerging in front of her and the crowd, were _three _men. Only a mop of strawberry blonde hair made Heath recognisable, under his sunglasses, hat, and leather jacket and trousers, a set of clothes which his three accomplices were wearing too.

"First, they are two thirds of the 3MB, accompanied by Jinder Mahal, Heath Slater, and Drew McIntyre!"

As Heath kneeled to play a disturbingly good air guitar, while two of the members stood above him, clapping, Hope examined their faces. One, with long, dark hair, was tapping his foot. Hope guessed this was Drew. The other was a darker skinned male, wearing a red turban on his head. She figured him to be Jinder.

After quickly snapping a picture for future reference, she held it up again, but with only half the vigour she had originally held it with, if that.

It caught Heath's eye like Hope had intended, and she gave a sheepish smile, but, wait a second…was he whispering something?

Even as their opponents, The Uso Brothers, came out with their unique Siva Tau battle entrance, Hope couldn't shake the feeling that Heath had messed up, once again, in a way only he could have done.

Nevertheless, she tried to remain happy for everyone's sake, grabbing some great moments throughout the match, including when Heath hit his finishing move, the Smash Hit, to pick up the win.

After her brother and his friends left the ring, as did their adversaries, the evening would move on, with more matches. Hope continually took her mind off Heath's actions earlier on by taking more photos, which worked up until the end of the night.

As Hope, Harriet, Jack and Dani were leaving, 3MB appeared out of nowhere, Heath sporting his trademark goofy grin.

"Guys, wait for me outside." Hope instructed. "This could take a long time."

After each of them gave her a pat on the back, presumably for taking up such an awkward task, they left through the door.

"Sis!"

The word snapped her back to face her brother, and his friends. She plastered a smile onto her face as they approached.

"Guys, this is my little sister, Hope. Hope, this is Drew and Jinder, they're my bandmates."

"Um, hi." she greeted nervously, shaking their hands.

"You have a sister?" Drew asked, a Scottish accent leaping from his voice.. "Wow, there's some news."

"Yeah, we don't see each other face to face that often. You know, because we're halfway around the world from each other."

Drew nodded, a smile crossing his face.

"Nice accent." Jinder joked, his own Indian accent prominent in his words.

"Ain't that right?" Drew countered wittily.

_A Scotsman, an Indian and a Southerner forming a band? _Hope mused. _Sounds like the lead-up to one of those really bad jokes. Talk about a group of misfits…_

"Yeah," she explained. "I moved to England two years ago-"

"2010!" Drew cut in. "That was right when Nexus started, wasn't it?"

"I think so." she replied uncertainly. "Though, I'm not too much of a geek when it comes to wrestling. I have to admit, I haven't been following Heath's exploits throughout the past year."

"Well, you're pretty lucky." Drew remarked. "He's spent most of 2012 jobbing to the Legends…"

"Shut up!" Heath hissed, crossing his arms and pulling an almost-pout that made Hope giggle.

"And there was that match you had with Lita." Jinder continued, smirking.

He blushed, bright red. "That match was a fluke!" he protested. "The APA was there! Bradshaw gave me a Clothesline from Hell! I've still got bruises from that!"

Hope threw her head back, still laughing, despite not knowing half the terms the group were using.

"OK then!" Drew interjected chirpily. "Now that we've established what your brother's been doing-"

"Just get on with it!" Heath barked angrily.

Drew continued. "Now that we've established _that, _we've gotta know- how much better are you doing at your job?"

Hope was slightly taken aback at the wording of the question. It was actually rather complex- to figure out how much better she was at photography than her brother was at wrestling; it was like the old-time favourite of comparing chalk to cheese.

"Well," she answered shyly, "I'm actually a photographer. Freelance, I've got my own little company, but it's a fun little job. I've even taken a few photos of you guys…"

She got the photos up on the screen, and waited for a response, but all the band members seemed transfixed on something else.

"Guys? Is something wrong?"

She turned around, and standing tall behind her was a man in a grey suit, with grey hair and a face which seemed to portray a sense of wisdom and extreme power.

"Why, hello there." he said, in a gravelly voice. "Vincent Kennedy McMahon, WWE Chairman." He held out his hand, and Hope shook it slowly, not quite knowing why such a high-powered person would want to waste time on her.

"H-hello." she replied bewilderedly.

"So, you're Heath's sister?" he chuckled. "You know, I always thought that was just an old locker room tale, another silly rumour, but-"

He stopped dead, his eyes turning towards the camera screen. "Is that your camera?"

Hope nodded.

"May I have a look at it?"

She nodded again.

Vince carefully took hold of the device, and, as he cycled through the night's photos, his eyes grew wide.

"Wow. These photos are simply stunning."

Hope had to try hard to keep herself from breaking into a grin.

"I'll tell you what- how about you go backstage with the boys, whilst I prepare…a little something for you."

He smiled, and turned to walk away, before quickly turning the other way. "Oh, and, boys? I want to see her taken care of back there, understood?"

"Yes, Mr McMahon." they chorused dully.

Once he had fully left, Hope allowed herself to smile, linking arms with her brother. _Maybe that inkling was to be trusted after all…_

* * *

**A/N: My first story involving an OC...like all my stories, I hope it didn't suck. :P**

**Wishing you a happy life (and Christmas/Hanukkah!)**

**Blaze x **


	2. Chapter 2

As she approached 3MB's dressing room door, Hope wasn't expecting anything special.

Boy, how wrong she was.

The door opened, and she immediately got a taste of how into the rockstar gimmick Heath and his friends really were.

Guitars and other instruments were strewn about the floor, seemingly smashed in fits of post-match rage. Torn posters of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Guns 'N Roses covered the walls (Hope only knew who they were because Heath had the courtesy to point them out to her). Glass bottles were tipped over, and red liquid had spilled out onto the dresser.

She was about to lecture her brother on how irresponsible it was to be consuming alcohol when he had shows to be putting on, before she managed to properly focus on the writing on the front.

Thankfully, and rather humorously, she found that the bottles hadn't originally contained alcohol at all. Instead, the bottle declared it had been filled with what was essentially glorified fruit juice.

_Well, at least they tried, _Hope thought with a smile.

As she scanned the room for more interesting knick-knacks, just next to the comically oversized mirror, she saw something that clashed with the carefree attitude that the rest of the room held.

Screwed up into a loose ball and partly covered by an assortment of guyliners, were two pictures.

The first contained two faces. One was Drew's; the other was of an older lady, with short, brown hair which was a slightly duller shade than Drew's. They were grinning at the camera, and their brown, eerily alike eyes were filled with joy.

Intrigued, Hope looked around to make sure no one was looking, before moving onto the next photograph.

Again, there were two faces. Drew was there, this time with a younger woman. She was attractive, slim, and had blonde hair, tied in a high ponytail, and brown eyes. She was wearing what looked like a purple tank top, and was posed as if she was preparing to kiss Drew's cheek. She had her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

Just as she was about to examine her findings more, a shout drew her away.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

Before Hope knew what was happening, Drew had lunged at her.

Immediately, Heath and Jinder pulled him away. The fury in his eyes was still visible.

"C'mon man," Heath pleaded. "What's gotten into you? Calm down!"

"Guys, I think I'd prefer it right now if you _left me alone._"

That was all it took for two thirds of 3MB to disperse. "Be careful, sis." Heath warned as he left.

As soon as they had gone, Drew silently walked over and sat down near the dresser, unfolding the photos and gazing over them.

There was an almost distant look to him, as if he was casting his mind back to times gone by. His eyelids dropped for a moment, before he sighed and re-opened them.

Hope saw that he had calmed down, and that it was okay to talk to him, however, it was Drew who had the first word.

"So, you wanna know who these people are, huh?"

"W-well, I-I just sorta c-came across these pictures…" Hope stuttered. "I-I h-had n-no intention of-"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU PUT THEM DOWN?!" Drew suddenly yelled.

Realising how he'd just raised his voice, Drew sank down into his seat, looking around in an almost nervous manner.

"That first picture is of me and my Mum." he explained, pointing to the picture with the older woman.

_That explains the eyes. _

"It was taken at a house show a couple of years ago…I was performing in Scotland, you won't believe how much I was cheered. It was a really nice feeling, but just a few days after this I got the news that…"

He paused, sighing.

"She'd been diagnosed with cancer." he finished solemnly.

Hope gasped.

"She…she died about a month ago…" His voice trailed off, and he tilted his head upwards, wiping his eyes.

Hope sat in silence, not wanting to say anything in case it aggravated Drew more.

After a few minutes, he spoke again. "That other one is of me and my ex-wife, Tiff-"

He paused, inhaling, before continuing.

"Taryn. Her _ring name _was Tiffany."

Hope nodded knowingly. "So, she was a wrestler, then?"

"Oh god no." Drew replied. "She was much more than that. She was ECW's General Manager for a time…and, of course, she was my wife."

In just a brief sentence, Hope got a pretty good idea of how much Taryn had meant to him.

"So, what caused the break-up?" she asked cautiously.

"Where do I start?" Drew replied. "I mean, I don't think any of us ever really knew the one true cause- she said it was because I was cheating, I said it was because she had cheated…in reality, though I never told her, I may have strayed one or two times during the tours."

He put his head in his hands, the guilt flooding back to him.

"It's been almost a year, you know, but I've never quite gotten over her." he stated emotionlessly.

"But, being in 3MB…It's helping, right?"

"Oh yeah, of course." The Scot's mood seemed to briefly pick up. "Your brother and Jinder are two of the closest friends I've ever had…and then there's you."

Hope sat up instinctively.

"I mean, how long ago did we meet? 20 minutes or so, and here I am, pouring my heart out in front of you…I bet you don't think I'm much of a man."

"Don't be daft! For doing all this, you're more of a man than anyone else here. In terms of first impressions, yours is probably the best one I've seen."

When he looked to her in a slight state of confusion, she only raised her eyebrows in a mischievous manner, causing him to smile, and eventually, have to cup his hand over his mouth to hold back laughter.

She didn't know why, but for some reason, Drew's laugh, smile, and almost everything about the man were intriguing. This little confessional had uncovered some of his hidden past, but Hope had a feeling there was still more to find.

But, of course, fate had to bring their bonding to a halt, as a familiar knock sounded.

"That's probably Heath." Drew murmured. "Come on, we better go."

Hope nodded, standing up and walking outside the dressing room.

Standing outside, as well as Heath and Jinder, were Vince, a few guys holding cameras, and a tall, imposing man with a buzz cut and a beard.

"Ah, there she is!" Vince announced with a smile. "Hunter, I'd like to introduce you to Hope Slater. Hope, this is my son-in-law, and WWE's Chief Operating Officer, Hunter Hearst Helmsley."

She took his hand, shaking it in almost the same way she had done to Vince earlier. She was an average size girl, but next to these men, she was utterly dwarfed.

"Look," Hunter said, bending over slightly. "I know everyone else has probably already said this, but-"

"You didn't know Heath had a sister?" Hope interrupted, blushing a bit afterwards at the thought that what she just said could make or break whatever they had her here for.

"Exactly." Hunter replied with a smile. Though he still had an intense, no-nonsense air about him, the humour in his voice was clear. This was a man she could trust.

"Now," Vince declared, "onto business. Hope, I'd like you to meet our photography team. They're in charge of taking photos of the Superstars and Divas, action in the ring, that sort of stuff. From what I saw earlier, you'd make an excellent addition to the team, which brings me onto, Hunter?"

Vince's son-in-law produced a stack of papers from behind his back, and Hope couldn't stop her eyes from lighting up.

She took the pen that was also provided, and signed her name.

"Alright! From this moment forward, I proudly say, Hope Slater, welcome to the WWE photography team!"

She cupped her hand over her mouth in astonishment.

This was it.

Her biggest break yet.

Like every other opportunity in her life, it was not going to be wasted.


	3. Chapter 3

After the big announcement had been made, everyone split up. Vince and Hunter went to make it official, the photographers went to get more equipment, and 3MB milled around doing…whatever it was they did.

But, arguably, it was Hope who had the most important job of all.

"Hey, Harriet!" she greeted to her friend down the phone line.

"Hope, why are you calling me when I'm only outside?" she asked, clearly sounding unimpressed.

"It's a long story," she managed to say, restraining the laughter threatening to overtake her voice, "but I'll explain it to you as best as I can."

She inhaled before speaking, knowing she'd need all the breath she could muster.

"I sort of accidentally landed myself a job as a photographer in the WWE."

That one sentence was all that was needed.

There was no response, and Hope thought for a moment that maybe the line had been cut out, but that was not the case.

"Wait, what?!" came Dani's voice. "Hope, did you go asking or-?"

"Vince came to me." she replied calmly.

"Who's Vince?" Dani asked.

"Look, I'll…I'll get them to send you a letter or something. From what I know, I'm not leaving the country yet, so you're OK with that side of things."

"Leaving the country?!" Dani echoed.

There was a period of unintelligible stuttering before she spoke again.

"Hope, I'm going. You stay with these new people, and they can send us a letter or an email, whatever. Seeya."

And then the line went dead.

Hope smirked, before walking over to Vince, telling him of her friends' anticipation of a letter, and going over to re-join her new group of photographer friends.

She was soon told of their latest, and for Hope, their first, assignment: taking photos of the Superstars and Divas interacting with the crowd on several more of the non-televised shows that were to be held in England.

For once, Hope would be on the other side of the barrier.

"Are you OK with us booking you in for tomorrow's show?" one of them asked.

She nodded eagerly. To her, as long as she had the chance to be near her brother and his friends, any day was a good one.

"Alright, here's where we're gonna be." He handed her a leaflet, showcasing another arena. She'd seen it in the papers before, and though it was big, and could probably fit a lot of people, size didn't faze her.

It couldn't do, if she was to succeed.

"We'll come out down the sides, and take pictures when we see an opportunity." he explained. "The main basis of the photos at these shows is seeing a chance and grabbing it with both hands, getting at it when the moment is right."

She took in his words like a sponge would take in water, mentally noting everything he was saying.

In fact, Hope took so long trying to learn from him, that when she happened to glance down at her watch, the sight of it flashing almost 11pm made her jump.

"Don't worry." she heard a deep voice call from behind. She swivelled around to see Hunter, standing tall as ever. "We'll let you go early tonight, but you might have to work a lot later if you really want this job."

The prospect of that excited her beyond words.

"Alright, then, I'll be off. See you guys tomorrow!"

They all waved her off, and she looked around quickly as she left. Hunter, Vince, Heath, Jinder and most of the photographers had a certain look in their eye, almost as if they were anticipating how much things would change with a new face in the mix.

But, once again, her sights turned to Drew. His face was hard to read in the fading light, but as she squinted as discreetly as she could, she saw a look of…sadness?

She shook her head, and when she looked again, his expression was normal. _I must be really tired, _she thought.

As she left the building, and casually walked past her friends and got into Jake's car, she let herself fall asleep.

**The next day**

**6:30pm**

Hope had woken up from her in-car nap, gotten into bed, and, with that look of Drew's a distant memory, had some proper rest.

She'd then awoken, dressed in all-black, WWE-branded clothing, smartened herself up, and headed off to the arena.

_Oh well, _she thought to herself, _nobody can say I'm not prepared. _

She walked through the revolving door, feeling unusually dizzy, even after she had stepped through.

She pressed her hand to her forehead. _OK, so I'm not ill. That's good…I think. _

Trying to regain her bearings as best she could, she was spooked quite considerably as she heard how hollow her footsteps sounded as she walked lightly along the ground.

_Probably the calm before the storm._

The few people that were there were giving her suspicious looks, and so she flashed them her WWE ID.

They quickly left her alone, as she paced around. The endless corridors and closed, empty stands were distracting her so much, that she hardly noticed another person walking behind her.

"Sis, what are you doin' back here?"

Recognising the accent immediately, she turned around to see Heath, grinning as he usually did.

"I'm just trying to get to the other photographers, but I'm a little, um…"

"Lost?" Heath cut in, clearly amused by her unwillingness to own up to her mistakes.

"No! Anyway," she said quickly, trying to change the subject, "Why are you here so early, and why aren't you backstage?"

"It was Drew's idea." he explained, flicking his hair. "He actually seemed really worried about you for some reason…I didn't know he got attached to people that quickly." He chuckled, throwing his head back, in a cheery way that slightly unsettled her.

_Calm down, Hope, _she thought. _It's just nerves, there's nothing wrong with your brother being happy. _

Brushing her feelings aside once again, she followed Heath around, eventually ending up going through a door which was the opposite side to the one for spectators. 

Hunter was there, and he smiled when she approached him. "Guys, we've found her!" he called back, causing the photographers to come forward and greet her.

She was handed a large, expensive looking camera, and told to wait for her signal.

Whilst she and the other guys were making final preparations, Heath called her over to where he, Jinder and an anxious Drew were seated.

The latter's mood seemed to change immediately when he saw her.

"What'd I tell ya, Drew?" Heath asked. "Look, she's completely fine, just like I told ya she'd be!"

He nodded slowly. "Well, that's good."

Hope tilted her head for a second, sure that he was holding back for the sake of keeping a secret. _Just as I thought, he does have more to him than meets the eye. _

Before she could probe him any further, though, there was a call from the stagehands. None of them had really noticed, but the arena had gotten absurdly loud from the influx of people filing inside.

There was a signal for the opening pyro, and Hope plugged her ears as red sparks shot out, lighting up the arena and making the crowd go wild.

Just to the right of them, Justin Roberts, the announcer, smiled, saluted, and walked out confidently.

"3MB, you're on soon." one of the stagehands reminded.

"Sweet!" Heath exclaimed, obviously psyched up, as usual. "Guys, we've got some faces to rock!"

Jinder and Drew cheered, and as their music hit, readied themselves to come out, as Hope and a gaggle of other photographers followed suit.

In amongst the chorus of boos from the crowd, there was a small pocket of screams. Wincing at the high pitch, Hope turned to see a group of teenage girls, the tallest one holding up a _"MARRY ME DREW MCINTYRE!" _sign.

Smirking bemusedly, he walked over to them, posing with the other two band-mates as Hope snapped a picture.

"WE LOVE YOU, DREW!" the girls screeched in unison.

Drew opened his mouth to reply, but his eyes seemed to momentarily flit between them and Hope. _What is he trying to tell me? _Hope thought.

After a few seconds, he finally replied properly, with a suave "Love you too, ladies!", as well as a wink, which was met with even louder screams.

Hope wanted to laugh at this wacky interaction, but something was stopping her.

A feeling.

Not an inkling, like the one that had landed her the job she was in now, but something else, characterised by an almost burning sensation in the pit of her stomach.

If it would've happened anywhere else, Hope would have stopped and assessed the problem.

But, doing that here would be problematic, she realised, and she shrugged it off once more, and moved on. _I'm probably hungry, _she thought. _I might get something to eat later on. _

Once 3MB had posed as a group and gotten into the ring, Hope swivelled around, almost in perfect unison with the other male photographer to catch photos of the other team.

The night went on without a hitch from there, but Hope still decided to get herself checked over by the doctors. As she walked over to where they were waiting for her, a familiar face appeared next to her.

"Drew?"

"Hey." he said, seeming relaxed.

"What are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be with my brother and Jinder?"

Drew's eyes seemed to widen at this question, and they darted around for a second, as if he was nervous about something.

"You OK?" Hope asked, feeling a sudden sense of worry.

"Y-yeah." he replied, inhaling. "I was just going to, uh, get a few of my things. I can be a little forgetful sometimes."

He smirked again, though this time, it seemed uneasy, almost forced.

"…were you looking for me?" she asked with a smile after a length of time.

This question took Drew aback immensely, causing him to stumble over his words, and his feet. "What? W-why on earth would you think that? I-I'm not some kind of stalker, I swear-"

"I never said you were a stalker!" Hope corrected, slightly shocked.

Drew turned his head away slightly, seemingly knowing he'd made a mistake in his choice of words.

"Drew," she said, "I know we're not the closest of friends, but there's something I want to know about you."

"Fire away!" he said, lifting his head, and clearly putting on a front of fabricated confidence.

Hope closed her eyes briefly, hating how he was hiding himself from her. This next question needed to be said, in order to nip whatever false personality growth Drew had started in spite of her in the bud.

"Drew McIntyre…do you like me?"


	4. Chapter 4

Immediately, the Scot's eyes went wide, and Hope wondered whether the question had simply shocked him into silence.

However, he seemed to come around after half a minute, stuttering.

"W-well, Hope, I-I-"

"Drew?! Are ya stalkin' my baby sister again?" a voice from behind asked with a cackle.

The pair whirled around to see the man who had broken up their moment, and were hardly surprised.

"Heath!" Hope snarled, advancing towards him rapidly.

"W-whoa, sis…ya know I didn't mean any of that, I was just jokin' around…"

Hope smirked. "Yeah, sure you were, _bro._"

Heath's cocky smile immediately faltered, and he stumbled, clearly wishing he hadn't butted in.

"I-I'll see ya later, Drew!"

And with that, he dashed off.

Drew chuckled. "At least now we know who the weaker sibling is." he quipped.

Hope nodded. "Anyway, what were you going to say before we were interrupted?"

"What? Oh, nothing. We can save it for another time. Anyway," he said, looking at a nearby clock, "I think me and the boys should get going. Busy days ahead, y'know?"

Hope smiled, whilst several mixed emotions were still dancing around in her head. She was going to probe Drew further about them, but when she looked up try, she saw him already walking away from her, and her mood immediately dropped.

_That's probably the only chance I'll get to get anything out of him. Good going, Hope…_

* * *

Letting her sadness fall to one side for the time being, she got on with her original plan of getting checked out by the WWE doctors. They directed her to the local hospital, where she got quickly checked over again, before they told her that everything was normal, but that she should probably go home and lie down for a bit.

And so, even though it wasn't what she would've been doing, given the choice, she bid her photographer friends farewell, drove home, got changed, and clambered into bed.

Today had ended on a sour note, but tomorrow would be better.

Tomorrow _had _to be better.

* * *

Awakening to a dull sky, Hope hoisted herself out of bed, and got dressed, checking her emails to see that her next assignment had been given to her, and, besides what had now become the usual job of manning the photo-taking at the live tours, there was another bullet point included that she didn't recognise.

"One-on-one photography sessions?"

It took her under 5 seconds to get what was meant by the expression, which caused her to groan loudly, before getting up, and leaving her room, determined to get the whole ordeal over as quickly as possible.

* * *

"3MB are just behind that door, Hope." the head photographer said once she had turned up at the UK headquarters.

She nodded, not wanting to let him know how much of a rush she was in, let alone the reasons why.

"Remember, you tell them what sort of poses to do, what angles to shoot at, that sort of stuff. You could even say you've got _complete control over what they do_."

_If only that were true, _Hope thought with slight sadness.

The two nodded at each other, before Hope walked through the door to find 3MB standing there, as he had said they would be: Heath was checking his hair in his sunglasses, Jinder was fixing his turban, and Drew…when she came to look at him, her previous train of slightly more relaxed thought from the previous few minutes, stopped dead.

_False personality growth. _Those were the three words that were playing on repeat throughout Hope's mind as she looked at him. Those were the words she'd used to describe how strangely he'd been acting around her over the past few days. Or, it could've been something different; she didn't really have the will to remember right now.

"Finally!" Heath said, in his usually sarcastic tone.

"If you need reminding, Heath, I still remember what happened yesterday."

Heath gulped.

"Wait, what? If you guys haven't noticed already, I wasn't there…" Jinder asked, sighing quietly.

Heath smiled rather smugly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

Hope was about to start banging her head against the wall in frustration, until Drew decided to step in, in a manner that had again, not been unlike him over the past couple of days.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe him, because of how _scared_ he got!"

Jinder chuckled, and turned to the strawberry-blonde frontman, whose cheeks had now began to turn red. "Really, Heath? You got scared of your own sister?"

"Drew, didn't we make a deal that said we'd both shut up about that after it happened?"

"Nope." Drew replied, smoothing out his hair calmly.

Heath groaned. "Come on; let's get on with the photoshoot."

And so, that was exactly what they did.

A flurry of poses, clicks, turns, and turbans, plus a few too many sights of Heath sticking his tongue out later, and they were done.

And of course, in this instance, "they" was simply another word for "Heath and Jinder". In yet another cruel occurrence, Drew was still to go.

Hope knew that he wanted to get out of the awkward situation as much as she did. Besides, what other reason would there be for brushing, re-brushing, and re-re-brushing your hair inside a locked room as many times as he did, when the stylist had already got at it 10 minutes earlier?

"Are you sure he's OK?" Jinder asked after a while.

"Why do you care?" scoffed Heath.

"He's our bandmate!" Jinder countered resolutely.

"HE'S VAIN!" Heath screeched, his brows furrowing angrily.

The entire room went silent, as if everyone, bar Heath, was placing their heads in their hands at the tremendous amount of irony that had just been exerted.

Breaking the silence, the door to the room where Drew had been staying swung open, and he walked out.

"Alright, alright! If this is the argument me not doing the photoshoot is gonna cause, well…"

He exhaled.

"I'll do it. Now, right now."

Heath looked as if he was going to say something, but he quickly stopped himself.

_It was probably for the better,_ Hope thought.

For the first five minutes, Drew's posing was uncharacteristically dull. Hope, ever the helpful person, was about to give him some pointers for him to improve, but of course, somebody else had to interject.

"Drew, this is boring, man."

"Heath, do us all a favour and shut up." Hope asked, feeling frustrated for the umpteenth time.

"Oh, I'll do more than shut up." he responded, clearly irked by his sister's honesty. "I'll leave! And Jinder is gonna leave too! Right, Jinder?"

"I, uh…yeah."

The latter was quickly dragged from the room by the former, and consequently, Drew and Hope were left alone.

"Is your brother ever that controlling towards you?" he asked.

"It depends, mostly." she replied, which garnered a smile from him, before they continued the photoshoot as a pair.

This time around, he seemed to be a lot freer flowing and able to show his character to the camera in a way he hadn't been able to do before Heath and Jinder had left. It was hard to fathom that Heath's governing ways could have as much of an effect on him as it had done on her in the past, but that was the only explanation she could think of at that time, so it would have to do.

After a few more minutes of normality, Drew stopped what he was doing, and looked around.

Hope couldn't help but smile, though it felt slightly insensitive to be doing so. "Drew, don't worry. Heath and Jinder are gone, and besides, even if they were here, they wouldn't be able to say anything about you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…I mean, you look sort of cool." she replied, blushing a little at how terribly misleading her choice of words had been.

He drew his tongue outwards and across his lips, gazing upwards for a few seconds, before bringing it in again. "Wow, what a perfect segue."

Hope cocked her head slightly, not seeing where the conversation was meant to be going from here.

He took a few steps forward, placing his hands on his hips, but not in a way that looked confrontational. "Hope, amongst everything that happened yesterday, you remember the question you asked me, don't you?"

Her eyes widened, and the blush came back onto her cheeks with a vengeance. "Y-yeah, why?"

She knew exactly what was coming, but that didn't stop her from being surprised.

"Well…I do…sort of…like you."

"Sort of?" she echoed, not seeing why he'd want to play down his affection for her now.

The two burst into laughter, not bound by awkwardness, anger or unrequited feelings any more. Even the usually intimidating presence of Hunter, who had just entered, seemed a little friendlier now than it had done previously.

"Wait, where are Heath and-"

"They left." Hope cut in, not sure if she'd ever stop feeling uncomfortable whenever she interrupted him.

"What, they just _left_?"

"Yup." Drew responded. "Well, Heath left, Jinder got sort of…dragged out with him."

Hope giggled at how silly, but yet so incredibly characteristic of her brother, that that sentence was.

"They probably didn't go far, though. Heath wouldn't have the guts."

Hunter chuckled, shaking his head in agreement. "Well, I guess I better go after 'em." He turned to leave, before stopping and turning back for a moment. "Oh, and, by the way- how did the photoshoot go? Before or after those two took their leave."

Drew shot me a glance, before looking to Hunter and replying, "It went alright, didn't it, Hope?"

"Definitely. Definitely…alright."

Hunter smiled. "Right, I'll leave you two alone, then. Heath and Jinder should be back with you in about five minutes. _Or less._"

With that, he exited as stoically as he had entered.

Drew and Hope were alone now, but they both knew it wasn't a moment for any big things to occur.

Those would surely come, given time.


	5. Chapter 5

Interestingly, Heath and Jinder _were_ brought back in less than five minutes by Hunter, though nobody was really counting.

"H-hey sis, Drew." Heath greeted quietly, his head hung and turned away so he wasn't making eye contact.

Jinder smirked, and Hunter tapped him on the shoulder. The younger man turned in response.

"Jinder, do me a favour: don't follow everything Heath tells you to do. You could've got yourself in a lot of trouble, and I don't wanna see you do that. All three of you have bright futures; to see them ruined would be terrible. Got it?"

"Yes, I understand. Thank you."

Hunter nodded, smiling knowingly and walking away.

"Is it just me," Jinder then remarked, turning to Drew and Hope but addressing his words to nobody in particular, "or did you two swallow some happiness pills whilst we were gone?"

Both of them chuckled at his distinct brand of humour. "You could say that." Drew answered.

Heath breathed a heavy sigh from beside him, finally lifting his head, though the shame seemed to be covering his face still. "Look, guys…it's almost midday, and the shoots are done, so…shall we get changed and head off for lunch or something?"

"Slater, that's the least terrible idea I've ever heard you come up with." Drew commented, as they did so and then walked out together, preparing to be swarmed by paparazzi…

* * *

"I don't get it!" Heath whined as they walked back in, McFlurry leftovers covering his mouth. "Why weren't we swarmed by the paps like we usually are?"

"Hate to break it to ya buddy, but that's never actually happened to us-"

"Drew," Hope said quietly, "lay off the comments for now. I always did…most of the time."

This joke made the man audibly snigger, to which Jinder turned.

"I honestly feel like any second now, you two are gonna turn out to be robot clones. You're _never_ this happy…"

"Calm down, mate. We may be rockstars, wrestlers and all," Drew responded, quickly flashing the horned finger signal their subculture was known for, "but I don't think our lives are gonna get any more exciting…"

"Well, speak of the freakin' devil, Drew!"

The particularly loud, excited tone in Heath's voice made everyone turn to him. He was holding his iPhone, looking at it with wide eyes.

The other three crowded around to see that he was browsing the WWE website; more specifically, a collection of photos from the London show that Hope had been a photographer at.

"Oh my god…t-those are my photos….on a website!"

Heath grinned. "And it gets better. Look at the comments!"

He scrolled down, and the positive messages, and who they were addressed to, were clear, if a little illiterate.

_Ortonfan556: omg! I luv these fotos!11_

_Cenation2heart: cool photos! wish there was more cena tho… 3_

Then came the one that really caught Hope's eye.

_FriendlyNeighbourhoodSmark: Wow, these photos are great! I've never really been interested in these sorts of articles before, but something makes me really want to meet whoever took these..._

"They…they really like me!" Hope said, desperately trying to keep her voice from going into a higher octave.

For once, everybody in the foursome had the same excited feeling.

Later on, Hunter entered their midst again, taking Hope into a random room. Everyone knew why, but decided to keep quiet, just in case doing the opposite would put them on his bad side.

"Good luck." Drew told her quietly before she was about to leave with him.

Hope smiled, giving a hushed giggle and pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Thanks, rockstar."

"Hope…you probably won't know this, but I have a bad habit of drawing things out to be longer than necessary. " Hunter told her once they were inside, giving a small smirk. "I'm going to try to refrain from that today."

Hope nodded, surprised at how she and a company COO could have even one thing in common.

"So, we'll start with this." He pulled out an iPad, and on the screen was the same WWE website page Heath had shown earlier.

"That's a collection of photos from the first live tour shoot I did a few weeks back." she recounted.

"Correct. And if we scroll down, we should see-"

"Comments from people who like what I'm doing?" Hope enquired.

The room went quiet for a few seconds, before Hunter chuckled dryly. "Heath showed you it, didn't he?"

_Oh, he's good._

"Yeah."

"Right, so that shortens this conversation considerably. Hope, as you know, the WWE is a business. This isn't information I disclose to many people, but, as we are a business, and we need to make money from what we do, sometimes, we tend to disregard the fans in favour of getting just that."

Coming from anybody else, it would have seemed simply selfish, but from Hunter, it seemed as if he was truly disappointed that that was a principle they had to go through with.

"However, in this case, it's sort of the opposite."

Hope immediately sat up in her chair.

"The fans love you, Hope. They love your photos too, and so do all the higher-ups…so it'd be silly if we didn't expand your role in the company."

"You don't mean-"

Hunter nodded, now fully smiling. "Hope Slater, you are now an official WWE ringside photographer."

They shook hands, before Hunter stood up. "Just so you know, the position will require you to relocate to Stamford. You'll need to fill in some forms to make it all legitimate."

Hope coughed, switching to her most formal voice. "With all due respect, Mr Helmsley-"

He sniggered, cutting her off. "Please, you don't have to be like that. Call me Hunter."

She stared down at the floor, hiding her embarrassment, and started again. "With all due respect, Hunter, I don't think relocation will be a problem for me. I moved from Virginia to London 3 years ago, so..."

Hunter exhaled through his mouth, clearly relishing this new piece of information. "Wow…I guess I don't know that much after all!"

Hope smiled in front of him for the first time, as he went to get the aforementioned forms.

An hour later, they were signed and sent off. _Talk about being crazy prepared…_

* * *

Hope had walked back into the main room with a serious spring in her step. Despite the distance, apparently it would take little more than a day for the papers to be processed. Hunter had also told her that this would usually be longer; he had left the conversation there, and whether any measures of corporate meddling were involved were not discussed.

In the meantime, she made rounds of calls to the usual sorts of people, most of whom were friends who were audibly shaken after Hope told them she'd be moving to Stamford.

"Harriet," she'd pleaded down the line, "Harriet, calm down…I'll call you, send a postcard, something like that…"

Harriet had been one of the first British friends Hope had made after moving to London, and by that logic, she guessed that her own slightly over-excitable nature had come from her, rather than her brother as everyone else suspected.

After that came researching more essentials: times of flights to Stamford and good quality apartments in the area, as well as hotels for the less permanent stays in and around the United States. She sighed to herself once she had clicked the last button, her shoulders slumping.

"Hope, you alright?"

She jumped, swivelling around to catch sight of the owner of the voice that had just interrupted her.

"Drew!" she responded, eyeing her surroundings for a few seconds after realising how overly happy she'd just made herself sound. "Yeah, I'm just sorting out a few things for my relocation to Stamford…it's harder than all the forms make it sound."

Drew smiled. "If you're wondering why I came over here, the higher-ups said we're alright to go to wherever we need to be now."

"So, we're off the job?"

"Until seven." he replied. "We've got our last UK house show then."

Hope cocked her head to one side to indicate she didn't understand the term he was using.

"Oh! A house show is another word for a live show, by the way. Sorry for not clarifying that earlier."

Hope nodded, and then smirked. "I've got a lot to learn besides photography, haven't I?"

"Yup."

The two laughed a little, before Hope discovered how little downtime she really had left. She closed all the tabs that had been open on the computer, and stood up to leave, but the feeling of Drew's hand on her shoulder stopped her from leaving.

"Hope, can you wait up just a second?"

Letting out the breath that had unknowingly caught in her throat, she nodded, before Drew produced a small piece of paper from his pocket, pressing it lightly into Hope's hand. Her gaze turned downwards towards it, seeing a long line of numbers and other details.

"We'll be leaving for the US before you," he explained, "so I wondered whether this would be useful, just in case you wanted to keep in touch. Heath gave me yours…god, he doesn't know a thing."

Hope nodded again, giggling at her brother's unknowingness before her train of thought was brought to a stop by a rather out-of-character observation- two of them, actually.

Firstly, she found herself becoming ever so slightly giddy at the notion that, at that moment, the only thing separating Drew's hand fully from her own was that piece of paper; this was, technically, the closest they'd been since they first got to know each other.

And secondly, even though she could've just taken the slip and placed it somewhere safe in a matter of seconds, both their hands…were still in the same position.

_Again, slightly giddy. Come on Hope, calm yourself down…_

All the more reason for her to fall into a small stint of withdrawal when Drew noticed their predicament, and subsequently pulled away.

"A-anyway," she said, her voice shaking faintly, "I should really be going. Seven o' clock won't wait!"

Drew shook his head, looking down at the ground and giving a tiny smile. Hope gathered her things and turned to leave, but for a second, she stopped, noticing something about Drew.

For a moment, she swore that he had a look in his eye, almost as if he wanted to do something, but then pushed it out of his head.

_I guess it's just one of his quirks_, she thought to herself bemusedly. _Anyway, I can't dwell on that now. There's only one more night until my life begins._


End file.
